An Athlete in His Prime...

We see it all the time-- an athlete in his (or her) prime suffers an injury so debilitating that he (or she) can't play any more. Think Bo Jackson. Or Jiri Fischer.

Now, devastating news from the world of competitive eating: Kobayashi has an arthtic jaw. On his blog, he calls it a "Fatal Wound."

For those of you who haven't yet seen the wonder of a small japanese man eating 50+ hot dogs in a matter of twelve minutes, it's pretty damned impressive. And a little disgusting. Ok, make that a lot disgusting. And "The Tsunami" Kobayashi has done it six straight years at Coney Island.

Looks like this may be the year for Joey "Jaws" Chestnut. By the way, the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest is broadcast live every year on ESPN. You can catch it while you're eating your own hot dogs at noon.